How do you use TACAN ?
Mike Cohler
are a number of TACANs listed on the maps at military airfields
which I have never used, and my instrument flying reference books
give no hints on how to use them. If a TACAN is listed as on the
frequency 109.1 for example, and I tune my VOR and DME to that
frequency, will the VOR work ? Will The DME work ? Must I get some
special frequency to dial up to get either to work ? Perhaps some
netter familiar with the use of these things can tell me how these
radio aids differ from the standard VOR/DME beacons.
Lars-Henrik Eriksson
A TACAN is a military aid that provides distance and bearing
information. The distance part is identical to a civil DME, so you can
get the distance information from a TACAN. (Except that some TACAN
channels are paired, not with a NAV frequency but with a COM
frequency. Most civil DMEs can not be tuned to such channels.)
The bearing part of a TACAN provides the same kind of information as a
VOR, but works in a different way and on different frequencies. You
can not get bearing information from a TACAN with civil equipment.
The frequency given with a TACAN station (109.1 in your example) is
not used by that station in any way. It is simply the NAV frequency
that the distance part of the TACAN would be paired with if it was a
civil DME station, permitting you to tune a civil DME to the proper
channel.
--
Lars-Henrik Eriksson Internet: l...@sics.se
Swedish Institute of Computer Science Phone (intn'l): +46 8 752 15 09
Box 1263 Telefon (nat'l): 08 - 752 15 09
S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN Fax: +46 8 751 72 30
Ron Natalie
: My U.S. Terminal Procedures (approach plates) publication has a page
: labeled "Frequency pairing and MLS channeling table." It shows that TACAN
: Channel 28X corresponds with VHF frequency 109.10.
It also appears in the Airport Facilities/Directories.
Philip Hamer
about which I do not know) Can be useful as a cross check e.g.
Cottesmore on 108.1 if you wish to route East of East Midlands going
South. I put Cottesmore as a Goto on the Satnav and cross check the
distance with the Tacan.
Philip GBHBZ
Julian Scarfe
> Cohler) asked about TACANs.
In article <byrne_mike-09...@129.197.110.143>,
byrne...@mm.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (mgb) explained:
>
> As I understand it, VOR/DME stations use VHF for nav and UHF for DME.
> There is a channel allocation that pairs the VHF and UHF frequencies. If
> you knew the VHF freq associated with the TACAN DME UHF freq, your DME
> function (but not nav) would work and provide DME info relative to that
> TACAN station.
>
The paired VHF frequency appropriate to a TACAN is shown in parenthesis on
the standard half-mil chart (in the UK).
> Stations that have TACAN and VOR/DME collocated are called VORTACs.
> VORTACs would have the both the VHF freq and the UHF channel listed on the
> chart. Your example of 109.1 would be the VOR/DME frequency. In some
> instances (mostly at military fields), there may be a TACAN but no VOR.
For historical reasons (the CAA and the military don't talk to each other
:-), VORTACs are rare in the UK. Most of our airway VOR/DME pairs really
are VOR + DME, not VOR + TACAN. Most TACANs are at military airfields,
and so are of limited use.
Julian Scarfe
ja...@cus.cam.ac.uk
Jim Hanrahan
>From: r...@topaz.sensor.com (Ron Natalie)
>Subject: Re: How do you use TACAN ?
>Date: 9 Jan 1995 21:32:22 GMT
You can recieve distance info if you can get the paired frequency (see above)
I have done it with civil DME equipment. I don't think you will have any luck
with "Y" channels.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Hanrahan, COM/IA Naval Surface Warfare Center
hanr...@oasys.dt.navy.mil Code 822, Annapolis, Maryland
Lars-Henrik Eriksson
You can recieve distance info [from a TACAN station] if you can get
the paired frequency ...
I have done it with civil DME equipment. I don't think you will have any luck
with "Y" channels.
Yes, you will if your equipment can handle 50 kHz NAV channel separation.